New Delhi/Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat on September 16 and 17, his first visit to his home state after he was sworn as PM on May 26.
Modi's 64th birthday falls on September 17, when the Chinese President Xi Jinping will land in Ahmedabad. Modi will visit his brother Pankaj Modi's house in Gandhinagar to seek his mother Hira Ba's blessings, an annual feature.
A day before his birthday, the results of byelections to 9 Assembly seats and Vadodara and Mainpuri Lok Sabha seats will be announced on September 16.
The results notwithstanding, all eyes are set on Modi's meeting with the visiting Chinese President, who is going to announce an investment of more than $7 billion in huge industrial parks in Sanand (Gujarat) and Pune (Maharashtra).
These industrial parks will house manufacturers of Chinese power equipments and automobiles.
More than 20 Chinese companies are expected to sign purchase agreement with Indian companies worth $650 million to buy copper cathodes, seafood, polypropylene, oil and cotton yarn, among other items.
At present India faces a trade deficit of $35 billion vis-a-vis China, with overall bilateral trade at $65.85 billion.
The Chinese President is visiting India on the last leg of his four-nation tour of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Tajikistan and India. His visit to Pakistan was deferred due to political instability in Islamabad.
India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has already met the Chinese President, and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to finetune the Chinese leader's India visit.
The Chinese President has come with a long wish-list: China Railway wants to be part of Modi's ambitious bullet train plan.
The Chinese are also interested in inking a deal to create some “sister provinces that would include Shanghai with Mumbai, and Guangdong with any Gujarat city.
